dumb premise for a game - Medieval Aliens

[Shades of Eternity]

I've been on a "mocking ancient aliens" kick lately, so having a premise.

What if the Middle Ages in Europe were because of aliens?

I'll start
William the Conqueror was a hybrid.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I think this is a really fun idea. If you replace fairies or demons with aliens, it creates a fun twist on King Arthur and other medieval tales.

Merlin is a half-alien, the "lady in the lake" is a holographic projection from a crashed alien ship, Excalibur is a weapon built with alien tech.

For "magic" you could have alien nanotechnology that can be accessed and manipulated with specific alien words (which sound like magic spells).

Monsters could be alien species that escaped from crashed alien ships, or hybrids, or new creatures created by rogue nanotech!

 

[Shades of Eternity]

and the nordic aliens are like ...right there.

 

[Staffan]

I think this is a really fun idea. If you replace fairies or demons with aliens, it creates a fun twist on King Arthur and other medieval tales.

Going the other direction, I am reminded of GURPS Technomancer, a setting that takes place in the modern world (well, modern-ish – it was made in the 90s), but where nuclear detonations have infused the world with magic – first the test detonation at Alamogordo, and later a much larger Soviet experiment in the Antarctic. From that point it's kind of a science-fiction setting with magic – the conceit is "What if magic as described in the GURPS rules existed in the real world?" So you get things like "A flying carpet would cost so-and-so many dollars based on these rules, and have such-and-such stats, which isn't going to outcompete commercial flight any time soon but is great for sneaky infiltration by special forces and such."

Anyway, the point I was getting at is that in this setting, a lot of the alien mythos has been replaced by fey mythos. Faeries do not exist (at least not publicly, and the book doesn't have any stats for them), but all those tales of alien abduction and such have been replaced by fey kidnapping people and taking them into their hills. I just thought it was a fun detail.

 

[monsmord]

It's worth noting that Andre Norton's Merlin's Mirror uses this premise, and she probably isn't the only one to have done so. I don't think it's a dumb premise at all - sounds like a lot of fun worldbuilding ahead of you.

 

[darjr]

Aliens founded Atlantis and later come back and help the goths crush Rome as misguided revenge.

 

[MGibster]

I'd go full alien influence on humanity here and make them the reason the Roman Empire was so successful. All those great Roman structures, their economy, and military prowess are only possible because of alien influences.

 

[Wolfram stout]

It's worth noting that Andre Norton's Merlin's Mirror uses this premise, and she probably isn't the only one to have done so. I don't think it's a dumb premise at all - sounds like a lot of fun worldbuilding ahead of you.

It made me think of Poul Anderson's The High Crusade where aliens land in a medieval French village and the villagers proceed to kill them and take their ship. Goodness I really need to reread that book.

OP.. very fun idea.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I think Dr. Who's done this before.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

yup <looks at the story the kings demons>.